On Wednesday, Pakistani television stations reported that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) nominated Makhdoom Shahabuddin, departing minister for textiles, as the candidate to replace disqualified Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. The Supreme Court on Tuesday disqualified Gilani from participating in or being elected to Parliament for a period of five years, as required by the Pakistani Constitution, and dissolved his 63-member cabinet. According to PPP leaders, Shahabuddin’s selection as the replacement candidate will not become final until approved by the party’s coalition partners in Karachi, Lahore, and Peshawar. As part of the Constitutional requirement to hold elections to fill the vacant position within 60 days, President Asif Ali Zardari summoned Pakistan’s National Assembly to convene on Friday to elect a new Prime Minister.[1]

In light of the Supreme Court decision to disqualify Gilani on Tuesday, the Lahore High Court (LHC) filed a petition requesting reconsideration of the 2012-2013 federal budget, passed on June 1. Because the Supreme Court decision was backdated to April 26, the date of the original contempt of court conviction, there is a question of whether all acts taken by Gilani since that date should be declared null and void. The petition also stated that Gilani himself should be required to reimburse any personal expenses covered by the government since April 26. On Thursday, the LHC will also hear arguments on a contempt of court petition against President Zardari for using the Presidency for political activity. Muneer Ahmad, a lawyer who filed the petition, claimed that the president is guilty of contempt of court for “not disassociating himself” from using “public property” for partisan purposes, and therefore should be charged, convicted, and sentenced.[2]

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is appealing a March 2012 decision by the D.C. District Court that rejected their initial request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The ACLU is urging the court to pressure the White House to submit the legal documents guiding the CIA’s covert “targeted killing” program, or else explain the rationale for withholding those documents. The federal lawsuit is part of a three-year battle in which ACLU lawyers have sought a formal acknowledgement of the existence of the CIA’s drone program. In response to previous FOIA requests, the CIA has used a 35-year-old judicial precedent to neither confirm nor deny the existence of requested documents.[5]

Talks between India and Pakistan over Sir Creek, the disputed strip of water separating Pakistan’s Sindh province from India’s Gujarat state, ended Tuesday with no agreement. According to an Indian official, Pakistani concessions on the Sir Creek dispute depended upon Indian concessions on the Siachen Glacier dispute. India’s decision to tie the Siachen issue to Pakistan’s handling of terrorism and its investigation of the Mumbai terror attacks, however, yielded no agreement from Tuesday’s talks. Although both sides agreed to hold another round of talks, Prime Minister Gilani’s disqualification Tuesday placed future negotiations in a precarious position.[7]

On Wednesday, local level protests occurred after Indian troops engaged in “unprovoked” firing into Pakistan-administered Kashmir’s Buttal Sector along the Line of Control (LoC), injuring two Pakistani civilians. According to Pakistani military sources, the gunfire ceased after the protests.[8]

On Tuesday, three bodies were found and three civilians shot dead following separate acts of violence in Karachi’s Federal B Area, Korangi, Quaidabad, North Karachi, Landhi, and Bhains Colony areas.[10]

Unidentified gunmen riding on a motorcycle in Quetta killed a senior school teacher near Arbab Karam Khan Road on Tuesday, sparking hundreds of students to protest throughout the city. Mehran Baloch, Balochistan’s unofficial representative at the UN Human Rights Council who is also on Pakistan’s most wanted list, told The News that the victim had been targeted due to his close association with Balochistan’s main Marri tribe.[11]